Tadej Pogacar implodes as Jonas Vingegaard snatches yellow after Jumbo-Visma onslaught at Tour de France
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Updated 14/07/2022 at 07:20 GMT
Jonas Vingegaard bulldozered into the yellow jersey after cracking Tadej Pogacar in spectacular fashion on the Col du Granon to take a maiden stage win on the Tour de France. After being subjected to a flurry of attacks all day from Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma team, two-time champion Pogacar lost almost three minutes on the final climb to drop to third in the standings in Stage 11.
Stage 11 highlights: Vingegaard stars in all-time classic as Pogacar wilts
A stage for the ages, a Jumbo-Visma masterclass, and a decisive attack of clinical severity combined in Stage 11 of the Tour de France as Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard soared into yellow with a sensational solo win on the Col du Granon after cracking the two-time champion Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) like we have never seen before.
Pogacar responded to a savage succession of attacks on the Col du Telegraph and the Col du Galibier – the first coming well over 50 kilometres from the finish – before Vingegaard finally delivered his killer blow on a climb unused on the Tour for 36 years, the day Bernard Hinault wore the yellow jersey for the last time in his illustrious career.
Like Hinault, Pogacar wilted in the heat to relinquish control of the yellow jersey on the brutal slopes of the Granon, the 23-year-old crossing the line, his head down and shoulders slumped, a whopping 2’51” down on his triumphant rival, Vingegaard.
Pogacar was dropped by the Welshman Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and passed by both Frenchman David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Britain’s Simon Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) as he pedalled squares with Vingegaard riding up the road towards glory.
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Is this the moment Pogacar lost the Tour?
Vingegaard’s explosive attack came just inside the final 5km of the 148km stage in the Alps, the 25-year-old making light of the remaining riders ahead – French duo Romain Bardet (Team DSM) and Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic) and the Colombian Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) – on his way to an emphatic victory.
The last man standing of the day's breakaway, Barguil had held a two-minute gap over the yellow jersey chasing group going onto the final climb having earlier crested the Galibier, the highest point in the race, in pole position to snare the prestigious Prix Henri Desgrange.
Barguil, a previous polka dot jersey winner, buried himself in a bid to become the first Frenchman to win a stage on this year's Tour - but with the gap coming down, he handed over the reins to teammate Quintana, the first to attack from the chasers.
Vingegaard's win was one to which every rider of the Jumbo-Visma squad contributed – from the green jersey Wout van Aert getting into the early break alongside Christophe Laporte, both acting as vital relays later on, to Primoz Roglic’s relentless attacks on the Galibier, and the constant uphill menace from the likes of Steven Kruijswijk, Sepp Kuss and Tiejs Benoot.
“It’s really incredible. It’s hard for me to put words on. This is what I dreamed of – a stage in the Tour, and now the yellow jersey. Incredible,” last year’s runner-up Vingegaard said before breaking off to celebrate with his Belgian teammate Van Aert.
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‘Attack, attack, attack!’ – Jumbo-Visma try to crack Pogacar in thriller
“We made a plan from the start of the day. Obviously, you can see what it was: we wanted to make it a super hard race. We thought that was in my favour and in the favour of Primoz [Roglic]. I took a lot of time today but I would never have done that without my teammates – I really had to thank my teammates. They were all incredibly strong today.
“On the Galibier, over the top, [Pogacar] was really strong and he dropped everyone else. I was a bit unsure if he was going full or not. Then on the last climb I was thinking that if I don’t try, I won’t win. Of course, a second place is a nice result on the GC – but I tried this last year and now I want to go for the victory, and that’s what I did today. Luckily it succeeded and I have the yellow jersey – so I’m going to keep on fighting for yellow and Paris.”
Although Pogacar was able to fight fire with fire when the attacks rained down as early as the Col du Telegraph, Jumbo-Visma’s aggression meant the Slovenian was quickly isolated as the race entered its closing moments. Rafal Majka managed to fight back to put himself in the service of his leader, but when Vingegaard lay down the gauntlet on the Granon, the Polish climber was incapable of closing the gap.
Buoyed by the first signs of weakness from his younger rival, veteran Thomas – the 36-year-old 2018 champion who had ridden his own race throughout the day as Jumbo-Visma kept dropping bombs along the route – kept his tempo to ride clear of Pogacar, setting in motion a painful final four kilometres for the rider bidding to win a third successive Tour title this July.
Entering the day 39 seconds clear of Vingegaard, Pogacar slumped to third place at 2’22” from the race summit, six seconds behind Frenchman Bardet, who is now the Dane’s closest challenger. Thomas stays in fourth, four seconds behind Pogacar, while Quintana’s strong ride sees the Colombian veteran rise seven places to fifth at 2’37”.
Russia’s Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Kazakhstan’s Alexey Lutsenko (Astana-Qazaqstan) both rode into the top 10 at the expense of Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), who is now 11th, and the German Lennard Kamna (Bora-Hansgrohe), who plummeted out of contention a day after he came within 11 seconds of Pogacar’s yellow jersey.
Pogacar will now be in the white jersey as the best young rider while Jumbo-Visma will possess both yellow and green for Thursday’s queen stage to Alpe d’Huez. Germany’s Simon Geschke (Cofidis) retained the polka dot jersey after starring in the day’s initial 20-man breakaway alongside the Frenchman Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies), who came within eight points of Geschke’s lead in the king of the mountains competition.
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Pogacar vows to 'keep fighting' after Tour collapse
But there was only one true king of the mountain on Wednesday, with Jonas Vingegaard delivering what could well have been the knock-out blow to Tadej Pogacar’s bid for an historic hat-trick of Tour wins. While it would seem inconceivable for the Slovenian to follow Bernard Hinault’s suit and never wear yellow again after cracking on the Granon, he may well have to wait another year before he dons the maillot jaune again.
Not that we should rule anything out in this captivating 109th edition of the Tour de France, especially with a Stage 12 that includes another ascent of the Galibier and the Croix de Fer ahead of a summit showdown on the famous 21 hairpin bends of Alpe d’Huez.
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